Surprise Return
by general zargon
Summary: One day, a giant metal dragon landed behind the guild. Yeah, that was weird even by Fairy Tail standards...in a good way, as it turns out. Rated T for a few curse words.
1. Chapter 1

When Metalicana appeared in the sky above the guild, dropping down to land with enough force it felt like an earthquake for several moments, Gajeel was actually one of the only ones who _weren't_ there to see it.

The Iron Dragon resembled nothing so much as a metal mountain looming over the guild when Levy McGarden, Solid Script Mage and member of Fairy Tail, ran out the backdoor of the guild to see what had caused the huge impact. A broad head, bright eyes, a body covered in shining metal plates and sporting sharp metallic wings greeted her eyes. The petite blunette had spent at least five minute gawping like an idiot at the enormous form before she'd snapped out of it enough to realize that _oh my god_ she was looking at a real life dragon.

Behind her, Levy heard several of her guildmates fall to the ground in dead faints, having followed her outside to see what the commotion was. She couldn't say she really blamed them for the reaction, since she would have joined them if not for the fact that she recognized the veritable mountain of iron shifting behind the guild from Gajeel's stories. There was no doubt that she was looking at Metalicana, Gajeel Redfox's foster father, and she would sooner eat her own pen than make a bad impression in front of him!

She didn't pause to think about _why_ it was so important that she make a good first impression, instead craning her neck to look up at the metal leviathan and trying to take in the dragon's full appearance. It wasn't easy, since Metalicana looked intimidating even when he was just sitting there looking at the guild hall, but Levy could appreciate the hard beauty of the Iron Dragon's gleaming form just the same. She didn't have a lot of time to look over the dragon, as a minute later Master Makarov arrived, strolling up to the metal dragon as calm as you please before lifting a hand and saying, "Yo! Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

Levy felt a drop of sweat roll down the back of her head at how ridiculous that sounded, and Metalicana just stared at the diminutive (at the moment) old man before throwing back his head and letting out a sound that reminded Levy of the harsh sound of metal plates rubbing against each other. Obviously it was the Iron Dragon's version of laughter, and she felt her lips curl into a small smile because, for some reason, it reminded her of Gajeel's laughter, and she wasn't sure why that would make her smile, but there would probably be time to think on that later.

Shifting with the faint sound of metal scales sliding into each other, Metalicana laid down and lowered his head to look curiously at the amusing older wizard who had just welcomed him to his son's guild. Despite his appearance, the dragon knew, Makarov was a rather powerful mage and the leader of Fairy Tail, and Metalicana afforded him the respect due him for looking after his son. He said bluntly, "Thank you." and began looking around at the place Gajeel had claimed as his home, just because he was curious and definitely _not_ looking for his brat.

That was his story and he was sticking to it, damn it.

He had been discreetly keeping his ears out for news of his son ever since he'd left the boy, though at least he was more subtle about it than that hothead Igneel was, and he could honestly say that he hadn't known whether to be annoyed or relieved when he'd learned that his son had joined Fairy Tail. His son and Igneel's brat in the same guild...Grandine had certainly given them no end of grief over that, but _they_ had been the ones laughing when the Sky Dragon's daughter had wound up joining as well. Still, privately and in the depths of his mind, he was glad that Gajeel had had the sense to take the Master of Fairy Tail's offer and not go down a dark path by winding up in another guild like Phantom Lord.

Never had he regretted leaving the boy more than he had when he had heard whispers on the wind of what "Black Steel" Gajeel had done while a member of that borderline dark guild. So yes, in his opinion the Fairies were certainly the better choice for his son's guildmates than another dark guild, even if some of them _were_ a little crazy (and no, he wasn't talking about Igneel's brat, really).

Things had begun moving quickly after his boy had joined Fairy Tail, and finally Metalicana just hadn't been able to bring himself to stay where he had been holed up any longer, as much as he would deny it if asked. Hence why he was currently making himself comfortable behind the Fairies' guild hall and running a critical eye over the guild members who'd come out to see what was going on.

The Fairy Tail guild was an odd collection of characters to be sure, a vivid mash of colors and scents, vibrant and alive. Metalicana could see why the brat liked them so much, at least by his standards. The one with the fish-tail hairstyle and the giant hat still struck him as odd, if a bit of amusing because of the way they fainted at the sight of him, he thought with a soft snort of amusement. A subtle breath in, and the scent of old books, ink, paper, and an odd faint tinge of metal greeted his nose. It only took him a minute to find the source of that scent, a tiny blue-haired thing dressed in orange and wearing a thin pair of glasses. The girl didn't look like much at first glance, but the Iron Dragon hadn't lived to be as old as he was by being taken in by appearances, and the metal leviathan sensed that hidden beneath that fragile exterior was a spine of steel.

Now intrigued, especially when he recognized the source of the metal scent as belonging to his son, he rumbled lowly in his throat before asking, "So, where is that brat of mine? I would have thought he would have been out here cursing at me by now," Despite the seeming idleness of the remark, another subtle whiff of the scents around him told him that while Gajeel must spend a great deal of time in the guild hall, he wasn't there at the moment - and hadn't been there for about three or four days, by the dragon's estimation.

"Ah, I'm afraid Gajeel left for a mission several days ago. He should be back tomorrow, if you'd care to wait." Makarov said, inwardly sweating and hoping fervently that the dragon wouldn't decide to destroy a building in annoyance at the news. It was a reflex worry for him, considering all the times Natsu and Gajeel had wrecked the guild, and Metalicana was a _lot_ bigger than either of them...Oh yeah, the Master of Fairy Tail was visibly sweating bullets now.

Metalicana snorted in amusement at the nervous old man, and it was all he could do not to cackle when the hat-head and fish-tail regained consciousness only to faint again a second later. He looked down at the petite blue-haired girl who smelled like his son, and he inwardly smirked as he imagined the brat's face when he returned to find his foster father lounging behind his guild.

That mental image alone was enough to convince the dragon to stick around.

A voice from the ground caught his attention, and the dragon looked down to see that the small blunette that had caught his interest was the one who had made the noise just as the girl said, "Hello, sir, my name is Levy McGarden. I'm a Solid Script Mage, and it is an honor to meet you; Gajeel talks about you sometimes." There was a bashful smile on her face, but the dragon was honestly more surprised that his son had mentioned him at some point. The brat must have really felt close to this guild, and that impressed the metal behemoth more than anything.

And since Fairy Tail would use any excuse to get drunk and party, and apparently a dragon landing behind their guild was a celebration-worthy occasion, the next few hours were spent with Metalicana watching and laughing in amusement as the Fairies partied around him. They really were an amusing bunch, and the camaraderie between the guild members was obvious. Even the dragon found himself getting in on the fun as he was appointed referee in the three-way brawl between a Take-Over mage, a gun-magic wizard, and a wizard who used sand magic. He was a little impressed at how the wizards managed to beat each other to a pulp one minute and then help each other off the ground the next.

Of course, the petite Levy in particular impressed him when he found out that the girl could create carriage-sized words made of iron when he complained of being hungry after rebuffing an alcohol-smelling woman's attempts to get him to join her in a drinking game. Yes, he thought with a mouthful of tasty iron, he might actually start to like the Fairy Tail guild - and he could see why Gajeel already did.

He just hoped that his son returned before that hot-head Igneel managed to melt his way out of that iron cage Metalicana had trapped the fire dragon and sky dragon in before he'd left.

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><p><em>Author's Note: *Is bundled up in a mountain of blankets* Brrrr, it's really cold where I am, which has pretty much killed my writing motivation at the moment, but I decided to post this to tide you guys over until I get my other plot bunnies in line. Thanks for being so patient! I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot, so please review and tell me what you thought! As always, constructive criticism is welcome.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: And though it's technically a day late, happy birthday to me! :D *Does a happy dance* I hope you enjoy this epilogue to 'Surprise Return'! Also, this chapter contains a lot of cursing, because Gajeel has a dirty mouth, so you've been warned!_

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><p>Well that mission had been a complete waste of his time, Gajeel Redfox thought with a scowl on his face.<p>

The Iron Dragonslayer had spent over half the time he'd been gone just trying to find the group of thieves he was supposed to have been beating up and dragging back to the town they'd been terrorizing for punishment (or trial, he wasn't really sure which and frankly didn't care one way or the other), only for the wimps to give up and start begging for mercy the minute he stepped through the door to their hideout! He was pretty sure one guy in the back had even pissed himself.

To make matters worse, while he'd been rounding up the thieves still in hiding, one of them had broken some priceless heirloom they'd taken from the client's house (by virtue of slamming into it headfirst after being punched by an irate Dragonslayer) along with some other junk, so his promised reward of 650,000 Jewels had been cut down to a measly 100,000 to pay for the items that had been damaged in the course of capturing the thieves. So yeah, he was pissed off that all that work had been for practically nothing, plus he'd had to shell out the money for his train ticket back to Magnolia out of said reward money.

His fearsome scowl combined with his many piercings ensured that he wasn't disturbed on the ride home (and wasn't that a word he was still getting used to using, _home_) and he could really only hope that there were still some high-paying jobs on the request board when he got back to the guild: his rent was due in a week, and iron, even scrap iron, didn't come cheap. Sure he'd snatched a few daggers from the group of wimps, but that was barely even a snack for the Iron Dragonslayer.

Leaning his head back against his seat and idly listening to the train rumble along the tracks - and trying not to get hungry in the process since trains were really nothing more than giant metal tubes on metal rails - Gajeel wondered if he'd have to break down and ask Juvia to go on a mission with him so he could take the tougher jobs without his guildmates looking all worried. He seriously didn't want to deal with all the drama that resulted whenever he took what the other members of Fairy Tail viewed as a difficult job, though he couldn't really say that he minded that the other members of his guild worried about him. It was actually kind of nice to be worried for instead of about once in awhile, he'd admitted to himself once during one of Fairy Tail's daily brawls (and weren't those just another perk of his guild?).

All in all, a highly unproductive three days, and he half-hoped that the devilish barmaid Mirajane would be sporting enough to either give him a free beer or maybe some of the more badly dented mugs and bent silverware. He was definitely getting hungry, and if he paid his rent with the reward money he wouldn't be able to afford any iron until his next job...unless he could corner (oops, wrong word), er, _talk_ Levy into writing him up some iron. He had options, which he was definitely glad about, he thought as he glared at the pocket containing his job's meager pay as though it had grievously insulted him.

It was when the train was pulling into the station that the first whiff of something off came to him, and his eyes narrowed as he sniffed, detecting the strong scent of iron in the air. It wasn't strange for him to smell iron in Magnolia, but the scent was a lot stronger than it should have been. He tensed warily as he picked up his travel bag and disembarked the train with the only passengers, only to freeze when he stepped out of the station. He _recognized_ the source of the iron scent, he thought with numb shock as he took another breath, but that just wasn't possible! The huge iron bastard had vanished years ago!

Gajeel was practically sprinting as he ran towards where the iron smell, mixed with the scent of copper and power, was coming from, and it was only after he turned down a very familiar street that he realized he was also heading the Fairy Tail guildhall. It couldn't be, it just couldn't! There was no fucking way that that iron-scaled bastard would show up at his fucking guild! He thought wildly.

As it turned out he was a bit wrong about that, because as he approached the guildhall, he could clearly see - and smell - the giant mountain of iron behind it, not to mention see the glint of a razor-edged wing or catch a glimpse of a powerful tail. He was dumbstruck, and he slowed to a stop as he gaped, because really, what were the fucking odds that his foster father would show up behind his own guildhall? Apparently pretty good, although he had a suspicion about illusion magic...a quick pinch of his arm later and he could put his suspicions of illusion to rest, not just because the pinch hurt, but because even if someone had figured out what his old man had looked like, there was no way they could know what the Iron Dragon _smelled_ like.

He must have stood there for ten - fifteen minutes before he heard a familiar grating laugh, followed by the harsh voice of his foster father, unforgettable even after all those years, "You just going to stand there all day, brat? Aren't you happy to see your old man?"

And suddenly it was like the decades since Metalicana had left had never happened, and Gajeel's temper snapped as he stormed around towards the back of the guild, yelling as he did so. "What the hell, you old bastard?! Why the fuck are you here!?" And then he was standing in front of his old man, staring up at the huge dragon of metal and feeling like he was about to either cry or start cursing. Maybe both, he wasn't sure, but what he did know was that Metalicana looked the same as he had in his memories, a gargantuan dragon with iron scales, razor-edged wings, and bright eyes set in a broad head. Not to mention claws and fangs that were like spears and swords, respectively.

"What, a father can't stop in to see his brat now? How's that for gratitude, you ungrateful nestling," Metalicana retorted, lowering his head so he was practically nose-to-face with his adopted son, letting out another metal-on-metal laugh as he grinned.

Gajeel finally figured out what he was going to do: he starting cursing out his old man, along with maybe crying a little, not that anyone would actually dare to say anything even if someone had been there to see him. He was actually a little disappointed that no one besides his old man was there to hear his tirade, since he was proud of the fact that he didn't repeat himself once in the twelve minutes he spent shouting and chewing out the Iron Dragon. Once he wound down, however, he gave in and lunged forward, honestly surprising Metalicana by hugging his adopted father's nose, sniffing and purring in happiness.

The Iron Dragonslayer would forever deny that he did that if asked though, not to mention beating the shit out of whoever did ask. He pulled back after a few minutes, dragging a forearm across his face and removing the evidence of any tears he might have shed. "So what gives, old man? Why'd you come back after all this time? And why are you sitting behind the guildhall?" Gajeel asked, voice a little hoarse from yelling at the metal dragon for so long.

"Ah, I'll tell you about it later. For now, go inside your guild and tell your Guildmaster that he can stop crying - I'm not planning on destroying the building now that you're back, brat."

And if Metalicana's voice was a little fond, well Gajeel was still too shocked to notice and there was no one else there to say anything anyway.

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><p><em>Author's Note: And to those wondering, the reason there were no other Fairy Tail members outside was because Levy was keeping them inside to give Gajeel a one-on-one reunion with Metalicana. ;) Do not underestimate the bookworm, Bixlow and Cana are still huddled underneath a table and cowering. LOL! Please read and review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome!<em>


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